


Dust and Sky

by EstravenAi



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-09 10:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12886302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstravenAi/pseuds/EstravenAi
Summary: When Dirk, Todd, and Farah visit West Texas, they are not prepared for what they find there. Expecting only dust and a never ending sky, they find themselves in the middle of a case. This case may take them further than they have ever been before.





	1. Maps

Todd sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched Dirk, hopelessly fumbling with what Todd assumed was probably a map.

He assumed this because the map was looked so stereotypically like a map from a treasure island story that Todd had initially thought it some silly prop or merchandise. Until Dirk started rambling.

Dirk always rambled.

But he was rambling now in that particular way he rambled when he was excited about something. Excited about a case, in particular.

“And if we just follow this line,” Dirk stumbled over his own feet as he turned in a circle, apparently trying to locate ‘this line,’ “then we will certainly find the… the thing…”

He trailed off. Todd narrowed his eyes, not bothering to follow Dirk as he made another short burst in what seemed like a random directly, only to come back to where he started… again. He leaned against the rental car, grinning to himself, just slightly.

Dirk looked up, catching Todd’s eye for the first time since they arrived.

“Well, aren’t you going to help?” He asked, clearly exasperated.

Todd smiled. “No.”

Dirk stared. “Wh… Why not?”

“Because that map is a fake,” he said, pushing himself off the car and moving to Dirk to take the map.

He pointed to a small symbol on the bottom left of the back side of the map, which Dirk had clearly failed to notice.

“This is a prop,” Todd said. “I recognized this symbol. It’s from a TV show. Something about small people and fairies, or something. Amanda liked it.”

Dirk look comically affronted.

“No…” he said, pulling the map from Todd’s hands. “No, it’s… No… I…”

He stared at the small symbol.

“Shit,” he said, pushing the map back into Todd’s hands. “Then why come? Why come all the way out to Texas if you knew this was a fake?”

“I wanted a vacation and I knew this was the only way to get you to take one,” Todd said.

“A va… A what?” Dirk asked, staring hard hard at Todd and gesturing wildly. “Why here? Why west Texas. There’s nothing out here. Except dirt and cotton fields,” he paused and squinted suspiciously at his friend. “Are you a secret fan of dirt?”

“I had a cousin who lived here once,” Tod said, moving back to the car and throwing the map back inside. “It isn’t exactly the prettiest part of the country, but… well, you’ll have to wait. I’ll show you.”

Dirk looked suspicious, but moved back to get into the car after Todd.

“Why would Wallace send us out here with a fake map?” Dirk picked the map up from the floorboards and tossed it to the back of the car. “He seemed so distressed and this is such a specific location.”

“He was distressed,” Todd said, settling into the driver’s seat. “He was really upset about his cousin. The map was just the excuse to get you here. I’m not your secretary, by the way. Quit telling people to contact me instead of you.”

“What. Do. You. Mean?” Dirk glared at Todd, the dawning of understanding coming on him.

“I told him to give it to you,” Todd said. “There was no way you would have taken the case otherwise. Too normal.”

Dirk stared.

Todd sighed.

“Look,” he glanced over at Dirk, feeling the weight of lying to his friend beginning to fall on his shoulders, even if it was for the best. “We haven’t had a case in… in a long time. We needed something other than missing cats. This is still a good case.”

“A good case?” Dirk sounded exasperated.

Todd sighed again and started driving. They had some way to go with little view other than cotton farms before they got back to the next major town and Farrah. He fully expected to hear it the entire way back.

“Other than this map,” Dirk gestured in the vague direction of the map, “there is nothing to this case at all.”

“There’s the niece,” Todd said, though he avoided Dirk’s eye. Still, he felt Dirk’s incredulous look. “Okay. Okay, I know. It isn’t much, but…”

“Isn’t much?” Dirk pushed his head back against the seat dramatically. “It isn’t anything. A twenty something year old acting strange? Every twenty something year old acts strange.”

Todd tried not to imagine Dirk as a young twenty something—he was strange enough as is.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Todd said, glancing over at Dirk, still dramatically leaning against the back of the seat. “I know it isn’t a lot, but he was really worried. I think we could do some good here.”

He smiled sweetly, knowing that Dirk was looking out of the side of his eye.

“And a little vacation couldn’t hurt, right?” He said softly.

Dirk took a deep breath. The moment he had realized that he wasn’t actually on a case, that feeling had come again—that deep, intense nervousness. The sense that he wasn’t fulfilling his purpose and, thus, something bad might happen. But Todd… He trusted Todd. And a vacation might be nice, though he might have chosen a beach, if he had had a say.

“Fine,” he said, “but we’re getting pizza tonight—delivered like proper Americans.”

Todd laughed. “Sure,” he said as they drove down the highway, surrounded by dust and sky and nothing else.


	2. Night Sky

“Did you two have fun?” Farah raised an eyebrow as Dirk and Todd exited the rental car in front of the motel.

Todd shot her a shit eating grin before pulling out several pizza boxes from the car.

Farah smiled, despite herself. Todd looked so pleased with himself and Dirk looked equally pleased, though slightly annoyed. Her boys were back.

“Dirk said we had to have them delivered because we’re proper Americans,” Todd said, pushing past her into the room, “But I told him that it costs extra and we can’t afford that, so we’re the delivery guys.”

Dirk, who had stolen one of the boxes as Todd moved past him, bowed to Farah.

“Ma’am,” he said seriously, “I have your pizza. Please accept my apologies that it was not here sooner.”

Farah laughed, never having encountered such a polite pizza delivery person in her life.

“Well,” she tried to contain her laughter, “I suppose I forgive you this time.”

She moved aside to let Dirk in. He bowed in like some kind of comedian waiter and placed the pizza so gently on top of the other boxes (that Todd had unceremoniously thrown down on a table) that her heart book a little.

“And what time do you call this?” Farah asked with mock seriousness.

Todd smiled brightly at her.

“It’s 9:30 central standard time Farah,” Dirk deadpanned, though Farah was uncertain if he was actually joking or not.

Todd didn’t miss a beat. “It isn’t what you think,” he said, sitting on one of the twin beds and patting it invitingly.

Farah ignored him as Dirk happily took the invitation and sat down next to him.

“We were working,” Todd said. 

“Oh really?” She said. “On that map?”

“Er… yeah,” Dirk said softly. “About that. It seems it might not be completely valid as a tool for deduction.”

Farah’s heart broke a little more. Dirk tended to do that to her.

“I thought so,” Farah said and then felt instantly bad as Dirk’s face fell, so she rushed on. “But I talked to a family friend tonight.”

“You did?” Dirk pepped up instantly and reached for the pizza.

She smiled. “Yes. And apparently the girl, Callie, really has been acting strangely. This may actually be a case.”

She could tell Todd was trying to stop her as the words came out of her mouth, but she regretted nothing. The uncle had been so concerned and Dirk had been so excited to finally have a case. She really hoped there were a case.

“Really?” Dirk almost dropped his pizza.

“Yes,” Farah said. “Her name was Grace and she seemed just as disturbed as Callie’s uncle.”

“Oh, interesting,” Dirk resumed his pizza eating, but seemed infatuated with Farah’s update. Todd, on the other hand, was eating his pizza peacefully.

“Yes,” Farah repeated. “She said that she and her friend used to be inseparable, but something happened a few months ago and now they hardly ever see one another.”

“So young twenty somethings have drifted apart?” Todd’s skepticism, though in truth she shared it a bit, grated on her nerves.

“Grace said there wasn’t an anticipating event,” Farah said. “They seemed fine one day and then the next, they just weren’t. And these girls were together every day too, not just casually.”

“Oh, even more mysterious,” Todd said, stuffing a piece of pizza in his face. “Two young women falling apart for no reason.”

“You know,” Farah turned on him, “that sounded vaguely misogynistic to me.”

Todd raised an eyebrow, but dared not speak.

Dirk, who had not bee paying attention, interrupted before Farah could launch into Todd.

“You said there was no falling out?” He asked.

“No,’ she said, sending one more glare to Todd, who looked sufficiently scared.

“Hmmm, interesting,” Dirk stood and began pacing the room.’

“You know you really don’t have to take this case, right Dirk?” Todd grabbed another piece of pizza.

Dirk stopped pacing jut long enough to shoot a confused look at Todd.

“Of course we’re taking the case,” he said. “What else would we do out here anyway?”

Todd stood, glanced at the window, then smiled.

“This.” He grabbed Farah’s hand and mentioned for Dirk to follow him out of the small hotel room.

“What is going on?” Farah asked, but Todd squeezed her hand.

“Just wait,” he said, pushing them into the car and driving off with no explanation.

Todd refused to answer their questions the entire time he drove. By the time they had stopped driving, it was fully dark and they were apparently outside of some town that had something to do with fields.

“What the hell are we doing here? “Farah asked.

“Is this something for the case?” Dirk asked excitedly.

“No,” Todd said, pulling them both into what looked like a cotton field. “Just come here,” he insisted.

They followed dutifully, but were both confused about where they were and why.

Finally, Todd stopped, pulled out a large blanket, which he laid on the ground, and motioned for the others to lay there.

Suspiciously, Farah and Dirk took their places on the blankets.

But when they looked up, all they saw were stars….so many stars. The vastness of the night sky made them both feel small and a little scared. It seemed to go on forever and to be so large as to be incomprehensible. They had, of course, both seen the sky before, but this was something different. It seemed clearer—like they had been seeing through a smudged screen until now.

“Wow,” Farah said.

“Yeah,” Todd said. “I used to visit here when I was a kid. There is nothing like the night sky in this part of the country.”

They were all quiet for a long moment, simply looking up and absorbing the vastness of the sky.

“I have a good feeling about this case,” Dirk said finally.


	3. Crops

“You know, this is really lovely,” Dirk said, staring up at the night sky and relishing in having Todd and Farah laying next to him. “I wouldn’t have expected this of you.”

“What does that mean?” Todd felt slightly offended.

“He means that you aren’t usually this… sentimental,” Farah said, relaxing into the blanket a bit.

“I can be… sentimental sometimes,” Todd tried, though not very successfully. “I just don’t usually…”

“It’s okay,” Farah said, smiling over at him. “Like Dirk said, it’s nice. I used to love looking up at the sky when I was younger. My brother used to stay up late some nights in the summer and play hide and seek outside with his friends. I would try to play with them too, but they mostly ignored me, so I would end up in some hiding spot just staring up at the sky while I waited for them to find me.”

“I remember hide and seek,” Dirk said softly, as though remembering something far distant. “I used to play it with some kids before…”

“Before what?” Todd asked, genuinely curious about Dirk’s childhood. He had a vague understanding that Dirk had been taken by Blackwing at a young age, but he couldn’t imagine what that must have been like.

“What’s that?” Dirk had suddenly sat up and stared hard into the field.

“Dirk, don’t,” Todd tried, but Dirk was already up and walking into into the night. “There are wild animals out here. We shouldn’t go too far from the car.”

“Dirk?” Farah sat up. “What are you seeing?”

“Something,” Dirk said, pushing his way through the cotton to something neither Farah nor Todd could see.

Todd sighed as Farah pushed herself up to follow Dirk.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he tried.

Farah ignored him and began making her way through the crops, which was surprisingly difficult. Todd followed, hesitantly.

“Whoa,” Farah said when she reached Dirk.

“What?” Todd was busy picking stickers from his shoe by the time he caught up with Farah and Dirk. “What are you….”

Then he saw it. In front of him a swath of cotton was pushed over, as if each stalk were bent by hand. Further, across the field, Todd could see what looked like a large shadow in the darkness. Looking closer, he could just barely make out a huge pattern of folded cotton. He moved closer until he was just at the edge of the patter and bent down. There at his feet were plants that looked like they had somehow be ever so carefully bent down. Non of them were broken, just bent. He looked at one closely, trying to figure out how it had gotten that way.

“A crop circle?” Todd felt the blood draining from his head.

“A crop circle,” Dirk said, smiling widely right behind him.

* * *

“It has to be some joke by some teenagers,” Todd tried as they drove back.

“I don’t think so,” Dirk sounded amused by Todd’s attempt. “A corp circle appearing in the very crop in which we stopped to admire the sky on our case? It’s connected.”

“Why hasn’t it been reported?” Todd asked.

“Maybe it’s brand new,” Dirk sounded astonished with the possibility. “Maybe we are the first to see it.”

“What do we do about it then?” Farah asked.

“We need to talk to the farmer who farms that field,” Dirk said, sounding as though the possibility of talking to an actual farmer were the best thing that had ever happened to him. “Todd, whose field was that?”

Todd paused, staring at the road and biting his lip. Farah raised an eyebrow at him.

“Todd?” Dirk prompted, now so curious it hurt.

Todd let out a deep sigh.

“It’s my cousin’s field,” he said finally.

“What?” Dirk sounded somehow both affronted and excited. “How could you not tell us that your cousin lives here?”

“I said I visited him here,” Todd mumbled, feeling thoroughly miserable now. “His name is Bill and he’s about my age.”

“You said you visited the area,” Farah chimed in. “We didn’t know he was so close. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Well,” Todd stared at the darkness ahead as he drove though, “we don’t really get along anymore. He and his family are a little… well, we just don’t get along.”

“Todd,” Dirk said seriously, “we have to talk to him! You have to take us to him tomorrow.”

“I’d rather…” Tod hesitated. “Can’t you two just go. I’ll tell you where he lives. Surely there’s something… anything, better for me to be doing.”

“Of course not Todd,” Dirk said brightly. “You have to introduce us!”

“You don’t have to,” Farah said, shooting Dirk a look. She knew what it was like being around family you didn’t get along with.

Todd paused, still staring ahead and trying not to get so stressed out he would have an attack on the road.

“No, it’s fine,” he said softly after a moment. “I’ll take you. To be honest, I’m pretty interested to know what he thinks about having a crop circle in his field. He’s not a very credulous guy.”

“Perfect,” Dirk said, “that means he’ll just stick to the facts. Exactly what this case needs. Proper facts. Like proper detectives.”

“Right,” Todd glanced in the mirror at a beaming Dirk. “I can’t say I understand what crop circles have to do with a young adult acting strange, if she even is acting strange.”

“Aliens,” Dirk said, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.

“No,” Farah said, feeling a twinge of deja vu. “Let’s not immediately jump to aliens here.”

“Seriously?” Todd asked. “You still aren’t good with aliens?”

“You are?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Honestly, after everything,” he said, “I really wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

He turned toward their hotel, happy to see the city (comparatively small though it was) after such a long stretch of nothing.

“Well,” Farah said, letting out a yawn, “lets wait and see what the actual evidence tells us before we go jumping off on the aliens boat.”

“Yes! Evidence,” Dirk said, excitedly. “Tomorrow we’ll interrogate our witness and gather evidence and solve the case of the strange girl.”

“Sure,” Todd said, sounding exhausted, “but tonight we will sleep.”


	4. Interrogation

Todd, Farah, and Dirk stood in front of a large, ranch-style farm house in the middle of a collection of fields. There was a barn in the back that looked like it held farm equipment and tractors. The barn was also surrounded by equipment and tractors. A large fence surrounded the house and they had to open the gate in front of the drive to approach the front door. A porch swing moved lightly in the wind beside the door.

They had needed to get up before dawn to be at Bill’s house before he went to work, so they had been able to watch the sunrise over the fields as they drove. It looked amazing.

Dirk couldn’t help thinking it all looked like a sort of paradise—he imagined himself sitting on a tractor, chewing some wheat, and humming to himself as he farmed (whatever that entailed). He also imagined Todd and Farah waiting back at the farmhouse for him when he got done.

He had not stopped talking about how cool it would be to be a farmer on the entire drive down. Well, that and how excited he was to ‘interrogate’ a witness, though Farah had kept reminding him that ‘interrogate’ was probably not the best word choice.

“Do you think he’ll be wearing a cowboy hat?” Dirk asked as they rang the doorbell.

Todd rolled his eyes. ”No Dirk,” he said again. “I told you those are stereotypes and they don’t…”

“And boots?” Dirk continued happily. “We need to buy boots. Have to fit in while we’re investigating. And we could get some…”

The door pulled open and there stood a man. He was tall and thin and wearing a plaid button up shirt with blue jeans, which were dirt stained and worn, and, much to Dirk’s intense pleasure, cowboy boots. He was not, however, wearing a cowboy hat.

He started at them for a long moment before his eyes widened and he clapped a hand hard on Todd’s shoulder.

“Todd Brotzman!” Bill pulled Todd into what looked like a bone crushing hug. “How the hell are you?”

Todd grunted, but put his arms a bit more gently around Bill’s torso.

“Where’s Amanda?” Bill asked, pushing back and looking at Farah and Dirk. “Who are these folks?”

“Amanda isn’t here,” Todd said. “These are my friends, Farah Black and Dirk Gently.”

“I am so very happy to meet you,” Dirk stepped forward and pulled Bill into his own hug, much to Bill’s surprise.

Bill, however, simply smiled and hugged Dirk back lightly.

“Todd is my best friend,” Dirk continued, ignoring the sharp look from Todd, “so I’m always quite happy to meet his family.”

“Oh?” Bill looked amused and a bit taken aback.

“Can we talk for a bit?” Todd asked, even as Dirk pushed his way into the house.

“Sure,” Bill said, stepping aside for the others to move in too.

The inside of the house reminded Dirk of a hunting lodge. It was all wood and shades of brown and dark red, but it was also cozy. It was also very spacious, with two couches, a couple of chairs, and a large fireplace. Dirk moved to one of the couches and settled himself. Farah and Todd followed. Bill sat in what was clearly “his” chair, which was across from the fireplace and the next to the couch.

“I’m glad to see you Todd,” he said as he sat, “but I must say that I’m surprised. I haven’t seen you in…”

“Years,” Todd interjected. “I know. I’ve… I’ve been busy, you know.”

“Hmm,” Bill said, raising an eyebrow, but not commenting.

“Well,” Dirk interjected into the somewhat awkward silence, “we are here for a very important reason. We’re here to interrogate you.”

“No, Dirk,” Todd said sternly as Bill turned his raised eyebrow on Dirk. “We… well, we were in one of your field’s last night and…”

“You were… in my field?” Bill asked.

“Er, yeah,” Todd looked a bit sheepish. “I wanted them to see the sky… It’s not important. But we saw something. Have you noticed anything strange lately?”

“Strange?” Bill looked genuinely confused. “What do you mean?”

“He means, have you seen any aliens or flying saucers or the like?” Dirk said.

Todd sighed heavily.

“Todd,” Bill said laughing a little, “this is funny and all, but I’ve really got to get to work soon. Daylight is wasting.”

“I know,” Todd said. “But we aren’t joking. There was a… well, there was what looked like an actual crop circle in one of your fields.”

Bill was smiling at the three, clearly waiting for the punch line to some joke. When it never came, his smile slowly faded.

“You can’t be serious,” he said slowly to Todd.

“I am,” Todd replied.

“Todd, look,” Bill sighed, “I’m glad you came to visit, really. It has been far too long and we should catch up, but you didn’t give me any warning here and I’ve got work to do today that I can’t just abandon. Anyway, this kind of thing was funny when we were kids, but we’re adults now and I thought you would have outgrown this.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Todd said. “We saw it with our own eyes last night. We can show you.”

“I told you,” Bill was clearly getting annoyed now, “I don’t have time for this sort of thing right now. We can have dinner tonight. I’ll come back early and…”

“Just let us show you,” Todd said, already sounding tired though the day had just begun. “Please. Then we’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

Bill looked at Todd, then rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” he said slowly. “But once all this nonsense is over, I’m going to go to work and you are going to stop trying to prank me, or whatever this is.”

“Okay,” Todd said.

“You won’t regret this,” Dirk said, smiling widely.


End file.
